Bonding Malaise
by paynesgrey
Summary: Wallace gains an interesting perspective on Logan's character. Slightly AU that Wallace didn't bet with Logan in episode 2 of Season 3. Logan and Wallace interaction. LoVe implications.


**Author Notes:** Written for an LJ community's weekly challenge. Oh, and Logan's mispronunciation of Piz's name is intentional. Oh, and I wrote this slightly AU that Wallace didn't know about Logan streaking.

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Bonding Malaise 

As students filtered into the café area of Hearst College, Wallace impatiently followed some chortling technology dweebs, trying to find a way around them. Shaking his head, he looked up and saw the infamous Logan Echolls sitting solo at a middle table. Pursing his lips and inhaling a deep breath, he made his way to him, nervous to confront the nut-job who had flashed him his family jewels earlier that day.

He plopped down into an adjacent seat, and after Logan mildly noticed him, Wallace said to him defiantly, "Dude!"

Logan – still playing the disinterested semi-acquaintance – turned his gaze slowly to his visitor.

"What is with the stunt you pulled back there?" Wallace asked sighing, and Logan was sure he saw a smirk glimmer on Wallace's face. "Do you want to scar me for life?"

"Well," Logan said, the sourness strong in his tone. "Since I am essentially a bored orphan, a genius, and a raging sex-god, I need something to titillate my dark side."

Wallace snorted and shook his head again. "Man, you really outdid yourself today. The class was positively freaked after you left. I thought the teacher was going to hurl." Logan raised an eyebrow at him as he went on. "And since everyone was so distracted, he had to let the class out early."

"Hn," Logan quipped proudly grinning. "You're welcome." He turned his attention to the textbook he was reading before, intending to ignore Wallace.

Wallace rolled his eyes, knowing too well that Logan Echolls was a tough person to befriend. Not only that, but Wallace also was sure Logan hadn't warmed to him yet because he was very close to Veronica, even more so during Logan's initial bullying.

"Listen, about the Sociology experiment… I noticed that you kept your cool the entire time," chimed Wallace in a low voice. He paused, and then cleared his throat. "I just wanted to say that I was impressed, well, even intimidated that we were going to lose." Wallace scratched the back of his neck, looked away and grinned, "Especially since we had that hothead on our team."

Logan stared at him with a half-smirk on his face; it was the kind of smirk that proved to bring upon questionable situations, whether one was the brunt of a cruel joke or the victim of a biting comment. Instead, Logan nodded, finally acknowledging Wallace's presence. "Yeah, well, having experience in the slammer will do that to you." His voice was soft, absent of insult and malignity. He scoffed and then smiled again saying, "I find this humble admiration odd coming from an opposing team member who won. How did your resident Nazi take losing?"

Wallace grinned, and then he shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, it was alright. The rest of the team was ready to throw him out of the window anyway. But then, when we left him out of the plan and it worked, the result seemed sweeter than smashing his head on the pavement."

Logan rolled his eyes and then beamed with mischief. "You big softies. After the experiment, we were going to dangle him from the very room we escaped from – naked as a jay bird of course."

"Ha, and you have some experience in that!" Wallace shot back, and he caught a faint chuckle come from Logan. Then, Logan stroked his chin in mocked pontification.

"Yes, well, I should use that ingenious trick again, maybe to scare away the vultures hovering around my girlfriend." There was an irritated look in Logan's eyes, and then he waved his hands in the air. "There seems to be this one guy, bad hair, Jughead-looking face, and he seems to be wearing my best friend's old clothes."

"Hey!" Wallace said, a little startled at Logan's information. "That's my roommate, Piz."

Logan gave him a hard stare, and suddenly, he seemed interested in this new development. "Fascinating." Logan made a quick movement and leaned in closer peering at Wallace. He slapped a hard hand on Wallace's shoulder, and Wallace seemed disturbed with his sudden hearty behavior. He shuddered as Logan grinned. "You should introduce me to this Jughead – I mean Pez." Logan's face was plastered with a manic grin. "I can't wait to meet him."

Wallace felt his stomach fall. Maybe bonding with Logan wasn't the brightest of intentions.


End file.
